Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Elastic is a search AI company providing cloud-based solutions for search, security, and observability. The Senior Security Research Engineer will research emerging threats, build endpoint visibility and protections across operating systems, develop production C/C++ code, reverse engineer malware, and help lead technical direction for Elastic Defend and SIEM security solutions.
Responsibilities
- Research emerging attacker techniques and turn them into shipped protections. Study real-world tradecraft across in-memory threats, injection, credential theft, ransomware, and kernel tampering, then design protections that hold up against an adversary actively trying to defeat them
- Build and extend endpoint visibility. Instrument new event sources across Windows, macOS, and Linux, deepen the telemetry we already collect, and close the gaps attackers rely on. Every source you add becomes a foundation for other teams
- Develop production code that runs everywhere. Write performant, stable C/C++ that executes on millions of endpoints, where a memory leak or a few milliseconds of overhead is a customer-visible problem
- Reverse engineer malware and study evasion. Learn how attackers bypass endpoint security controls in the wild, and feed that understanding directly into the protections you design and harden
- Own efficacy end to end. Review customer telemetry at fleet scale, investigate false positives and performance regressions, and establish mitigation strategies. Shipping the feature is the beginning of the job, not the end
- Extend protection parity across platforms. Bring the depth we have on Windows to macOS and Linux, and support new hardware architectures as they reach the enterprise
- Collaborate across Elastic Security. Implement endpoint code alongside peers in multiple countries and time zones, and work with the detection engineers, malware researchers, and data scientists who rely on your telemetry
- Help lead the team's technical direction. Take point on initiatives that span multiple releases, raise the bar in design and code reviews, and mentor engineers earlier in their careers
- Publish and present. Share your research on Elastic Security Labs, present at conferences, and contribute to the open source projects that organizations around the world rely on
Skills
- 6+ years of professional experience analyzing attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and building detection methods for real security threats
- 6+ years of development experience in C, C++, and Python, with the judgment to write code that is safe, fast, and maintainable in a security-critical codebase
- Deep operating system internals knowledge, in both kernel and user mode, deep enough to reason about undocumented behavior and find security-relevant structures nobody has written about yet. Windows depth is what we need most, with macOS or Linux depth close behind
- In-depth reverse engineering and malware analysis experience, and comfort with the tooling that makes hard binaries readable
- An adversarial instinct. You anticipate how a protection will be evaded before it ships, and design for resilience rather than for the proof of concept in front of you
- A collaborative mentality and an eagerness to learn new skills, new platforms, and emerging technologies
- You have a proven track record of using AI to accelerate development, debug complex systems, and optimize code, while still owning the final outcomes
- You work autonomously and can drive decisions and results in a distributed team by leveraging asynchronous, direct, and transparent communication
- Passion for protecting the world's data from attack!
- Vulnerability research and exploit development, particularly with a track record of responsible disclosure to platform vendors
- Red teaming experience, or a background in building offensive tooling and defeating endpoint security products
- Kernel-mode development, including driver development and debugging
- Ownership or long-term maintenance of an open-source security tool with a real user base
- Conference speaking experience (e.g., Black Hat, DEF CON, CODE BLUE, Virus Bulletin) or an established publication record
- Experience applying machine learning to endpoint security problems
- Familiarity with the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Kibana) and Elastic Security
Benefits
- This role is currently eligible to participate in Elastic's stock program.
- A company-matched 401k with dollar-for-dollar matching up to 6% of eligible earnings.
- Health coverage for you and your family in many locations.
- Ability to craft your calendar with flexible locations and schedules for many roles.
- Generous number of vacation days each year.
- We match up to $2000 (or local currency equivalent) for financial donations and service.
- Up to 40 hours each year to use toward volunteer projects you love.
- Minimum of 16 weeks of parental leave
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